How sports betting fleeced students of their money—and mental health

"We are at the tip of the iceberg, and we will see more social ramifications start to bubble up," says Greg Bouris, assistant teaching professor of sports management at Adelphi University.

High-risk gambling wasn’t on Amaura Kemmerer’s radar in 2008 when she started the Office of Prevention and Education at Northeastern University. However, the rise of online sports betting platforms has created a pervasive—and oftentimes understated—issue for young adults, carrying potentially dire consequences for their mental health.

“In the past couple of years colleges and universities have started to look more critically at what services they’re offering,” says Kemmerer, now the director of clinical affairs at Uwill. 

A survey released last week by the NCAA studying the gambling behaviors of over 20,000 student-athletes found the percentage of students betting alone doubled between 2016 and 2024. The number of respondents who reported losses of $500 or more in one day also increased. A smaller survey conducted in 2023 found that over two-thirds of traditional students living on campus are sports betting, which they tend to engage in at a high frequency, and 41% of college students who have bet did so on their school’s teams.

“We are at the tip of the iceberg, and we will see more social ramifications start to bubble up,” says Greg Bouris, assistant teaching professor of sports management at Adelphi University.

The explosion in sports betting came in 2018 following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reversed its outlawing in most states, opening the floodgates for online sportsbook companies to promote their services. As of this year, DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM collectively spent around $1 billion on advertising in 2024, according to Scaleo, a marketing software and tracking company.

Young men quickly became the target audience due to their lack of education on the dangers of gambling and the potential score of lifelong customers, Bouris adds. “If you can sink your marketing teeth into 18-21 year-olds, you can have a customer for life. These companies are going to make billions of dollars.”


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Sacred Heart University received a state grant last year to raise awareness about problem gambling, which they used toward faculty staff training and guest speaker panel discussions. “We don’t see a lot of students reaching out about this stuff,” says Jeffrey Labella, director of Counseling and Collegiate Recovery at Sacred Heart University. Like drinking, one reason may be “how embedded into the culture it already is.”

As a result, students struggling with poor grades, sleep or just their overall headspace may be unaware of how dire a role sports betting may play in their lives, Kemmerer says. This is not uncommon for those struggling with addictive behavior.

How can we stem sports betting from growing?

As prevalent sports betting may be on campuses today, Kemmerer believes institutions can subscribe to three pillars to reinforce protective habits for their students. “Colleges have this unique moment in time to help intervene early so that a student can alter their trajectory before it becomes a lifelong addiction or problem.”

  1. Strong policy: Ensure that not only written guidelines but that your institution’s cultures reflect your mission and stance against sports betting.
  2. Education: Spread awareness about the pitfalls of sports betting. Sacred Heart has added in campus syllabi information about resources to turn to just in case, like the wellness center, LaBella says. “Little things like that can make a big difference.”
  3. Access to mental health care: With young adults at an inflection point that can make or break their habits for the long term, Kemmerer finds that support systems can implement motivational enhancement therapy to motivate them to make gradual changes in their behavior before gambling becomes an acute issue. Educating young adults enrolled in college about the ills of sports betting is crucial to prevent deeper habits from proliferating, such as clinical criteria for a gambling disorder.
Alcino Donadel
Alcino Donadel
Alcino Donadel is a UB staff writer and first-generation journalism graduate from the University of Florida. He has triple citizenship from the U.S., Ecuador and Brazil.

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